Category Archives: S

The Belle of Snodland Town

11 Saturday Nov 2017

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Wednesday 11th October 2017 ko 19.45

Southern Counties East Division One

SNODLAND TOWN 0

LYDD TOWN 1 (Lockyer 65)

Att 86

Entry £6

Programme £1

The Kentish town of Snodland grew based around, like so much in the area around paper making, in principle due to the lime deposits in the area. Today the town is still well-to-do in an unobtrusive way, but it’s the story of the village nearby that needs to be told.  Continue reading →

Order, In All Things

07 Tuesday Nov 2017

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Sunday 8th October 2017 ko 11.00

Western League Premier Division

SHEPTON MALLET 4 (Billing 20 47 89 Pollard 47)

BRISLINGTON 1 (Hunt 85)

Att 285

Entry £6

Programme £1

About 2 weeks before the Western Hop I’d been at a game and a hopper came up to me and told me how excited he was about the hop, but then commented.

“But why couldn’t you have put the Bishops Lydeard game on before the Shepton Mallet game?”

My response was to ask why would that be of any help? His response was telling,

“Because then I’d go home after the Lydeard game” he said. Never has the compromise that is the organised groundhop been put in clearer focus. Continue reading →

No Distance Left To Run

22 Sunday Oct 2017

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Friday 29th September 2017 ko 19.45

Eastern Counties League Premier Division

STANWAY ROVERS 1 (Blackwell 78)

WIVENHOE TOWN 0

Att 201

Entry £6

Programme £1.50

Friday night football is something that’s clearly worked for the Eastern Counties League with regular fixtures throughout the season. It makes sense especially for clubs like Stanway with Colchester United on their doorstep as it allows the Football League club’s fans to come and watch too.  From a hopper’s perspective it does allow the chance to tick off another ground on a day of generally sparse fixtures; in fact the only issue is battling Friday night traffic to get there! Continue reading →

The Island Line

02 Monday Oct 2017

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Saturday 2nd September 2017 ko 13.30

Isle of Wight League – Division One

SHANKLIN 2 (Nash 7 14) Sam Hart missed penalty 31

COWES SPORTS RESERVES 2 (Holdsworth 55 83) 

Att c35

Entry FREE

If you’re the kind of person who looks for the cheapest and easiest way to do things, you’d never use the hovercraft to get to the Isle of Wight. The parking in Southsea is just too expensive, and its so much more straightforward to take the car across from Southampton to Cowes. But life isn’t about treading the path most trodden, and it was Robyn’s birthday after all!

Continue reading →

The Carpenter

28 Thursday Sep 2017

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Monday 28th August 2017 ko 13.45

South Wales Alliance Division 2

ST JOSEPH’S 0

CARDIFF AIRPORT 5 (Richards 7 Caton 35 73 90 Fallas 64)

Att 258

Entry £3

Programme £1

It didn’t take long for the coaches to get from Penarth to Cardiff, despite the usual bank holiday traffic. In fact the only issue was working out exactly where the ground was, tucked away as it is behind the suburban housing. The fact that this was for a hop game helped, after 9 games I could recognise many of the hoppers’ cars! Continue reading →

Meridian

06 Wednesday Sep 2017

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Tuesday 22nd August 2017 ko 19.45

Cambridgeshire County League Division Senior A

SOMERSHAM TOWN 2 (Wiggins- Brown 37 Sterna 50)

OVER SPORTS 3 (Peacock 12 49 Sessions 75)

Att c100

Entry FREE

This last couple of weeks the running theme has been clubs with an Eastern Counties League past. There was the abandoned game at Long Sutton and of course Wisbech Town were until relatively recently in the ECL. But Somersham at first glance seemed be unusual in that they were playing a floodlit game in the second tier of a county league. Continue reading →

The Legacy

06 Sunday Aug 2017

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Saturday 29th July 2017 ko 16.00

Peterborough & District League Division Two

SPALDING TOWN 2 (Coote 17 Wilson 90)

WISBECH ST MARY SAINTS 1 (McKenna 40)

Att 241

Entry £4

Programme £1

The story goes that a local man left a legacy leaving Spalding United £200,000 Pinchbeck United £200,000 and Spalding Town 2p! Now I haven’t been able to verify the account, or who or what at Spalding Town irked him, but if true if would help to explain how the UCL/PDFL hop came to be at Knight Street, in Pinchbeck. Continue reading →

The 6 Towns

05 Wednesday Jul 2017

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Sunday 2nd July 2017 tapes up 18.00

National League Speedway

STOKE POTTERS 47 (Burnett 12+1 Davey 10)

CRADLEY HEATHENS 43 (Morley 13+1 Perry 9 +2)

Att c400

Entry £13

Programme £1

I have a theory that if Arnold Bennett were writing about the Potteries in the 21st century, he’d have written about the local speedway team rather than the twin football teams of Stoke City and Port Vale. That’s not to disparage those clubs in any way, 99% of the time this blog is about visiting football grounds, but there’s something about Loomer Road in Newcastle-under-Lyme that evokes Bennett.

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Canapes

18 Sunday Jun 2017

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Saturday 3rd June 2017 ko 17.00

Division 5 Sydvästra Skåne

SKEGRIE B.K. 4 (Ljungvist 5 Revesz 38 80 82)

ARLÖVS B.I. 4 (Svensson 11 25 48 Johansson 61)

Att 46

Entry & Programme 40sek

If our previous game at Gylle was sold to the British contingent on the Swedish Hop as a beautiful location, then Snarringe I.P. was at least its equal. The small village near Trelleborg is best known as where some Dolmen, or standing stones were discovered, dating back to Viking times but is now a peaceful idyll in rural southern Sweden. There was one small problem though, actually pronouncing the name “Skegrie!”

Continue reading →

The 100th Final

07 Wednesday Jun 2017

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Saturday 13th May 2017 ko 19.00

North Berkshire Cup Final

BERINSFIELD 2 (D Murphy 23 78)

SAXTON ROVERS 1 (Bloomfield 57)

Att c500

at Abingdon United FC

Entry £4

Programme 50p

I could have got involved in a few leagues over the years, let’s face it the North Berkshire League isn’t the only league I help organise hops for. But I found, and continue to find something incredibly endearing about this off-pyramid village competition. Yes, I still hear a few hoppers’ comments about “Fields” but what’s more important, an “Arena”stand or values like friendship and camaraderie?  Continue reading →